Four typical land uses in hilly area of Taihu Lake were studied on temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of nitrogen losses in surface runoff under natural rainfall through experiment in situ. The medium value of event mean concentration (EMC) of ammonia nitrogen (NH4(+) -N) which dominated agricultural N in surface runoff accounted for 44.5% of total nitrogen (TN), while nitrite nitrogen (NO2(-) -N) accounted for 1.8%. Concentration of nitrogen in runoff had significantly seasonal variation which was related to meteorologic conditions such as rainfall, temperature, and agricultural activities. Temporal variabilities of site mean concentration (SMC) for TN, NH4(+) -N, NO3(-) -N and NO2(-) -N were decreased sequentially. The highest SMC value of TN, NH(+) -N and NO3(-) -N in upland runoff and N2(-) -N in bamboo grove were observed. The spatial distribution of nitrogen losses was determined by fertilizer application and vegetation coverage. Spatial variabilities for SMC of nitrogen were less than temporal variabilities. It was found that transportation fluxes of nitrogen in surface runoff from upland and vegetable plot were higher than that from chestnut orchard and bamboo forest which have significantly related to surface runoff volume.